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Six Hottest Cars at the Detroit Auto Show

Written by: Ted Reed01/11/13 - 6:30 AM EST

Tickers in this article:
F GM HMC TM

DETROIT ( TheStreet) -- Headed into the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, the auto industry is in a good mood, reflecting three years of rising sales and expectations for a fourth year of growth.

Even in a bad year, nothing cheers up the auto industry like the Detroit Auto Show, 2009 notwithstanding. The cameras flash, the reporters congregate and the executives are on comfortable turf, particularly because the Detroit show is geared toward them, rather than toward a particular region, as the Los Angeles show is geared towards California's secessionist auto buying tendencies.

Media days are Monday and Tuesday, and thousands of reporters from throughout the world will descend on Detroit to see the new cars and chat with auto industry executives from around the world. By the way, if you know of an available hotel room in downtown Detroit, let us know -- we are staying out by the airport. This is because it never occurred to us back in 2010 that what we should be doing is booking a downtown Detroit hotel room for next week.

As for the vehicles that will dominate the news at the show, the information about some of them is as hard to come by as a downtown hotel room.

For instance, Ford (F) is expected to unveil a concept for the 2015 F-150, which is important because 2013 is shaping up to be the year of the
pickup truck . But so far Ford has had nothing to say on this topic.

In assembling our list of the six hot cars at the auto show, we talked with Edmunds.com Automotive Editor Ed Hellwig. This is what we know, so far.
Ford F-150 Concept

The story here is that the Dodge Ram is a great new truck that is winning multiple truck-of-the-year awards and the auto industry is obsessed with the introduction of the new GM (GM) Chevrolet Silverado truck, to the point of carefully counting, at the end of each of the past six months, GM's inventory of current model Silverados. If you are Ford, you no doubt are a little upset that your truck seems to be getting the cold shoulder. It has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for the past three decades and it leads the next closest vehicle, the Silverado, by 35%, or about 200,000 vehicles, which basically is enough units to satisfy a small automaker with one or two successful vehicles.

So with the eyes of the automotive world on the Detroit Auto Show, it's time for Ford to make some noise.

Our only question is why did GM introduce the new Silverado in mid-December, rather than waiting a month for the auto show?

For the moment, our picture shows a 2012 F-150. Check back next week to see a picture of the 2015 concept truck.
Chevrolet Corvette